Summary of Iran Stories in Today's BroadcastsBehnam NateghiSaturday, September 06, 2003
<b>US Backs Away from Declaring Iran in Violation of the NPT</b>
• Softening its stance on Iran in advance of the Monday meeting in Vienna of the board of governors of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency, the US said yesterday that it backed away from plans to have Iran declared in violation of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Instead, the US will ask the IAEA to issue a resolution to press Iran to fully cooperate with the IAEA. Sources in Vienna told news agencies that there was little support among the 35-member board for the US plan to refer Iran's case to the UN Security Council. (Mir-Ali Hosseini, Paris)
• Foreign minister Kamal Kharrazi expressed hopes that the US would not pressure the IAEA board of governors to condemn Iran's nuclear program. (Mehdi Khalaji)
<b>New Arrest Warrant to Keep Sazegara in Jail Despite Posting 6-Billion-Rial Bond</b>
• Despite posting a bond worth 6 billion rials, Mohsen Sazegara, constitutional reform advocate and an outspoken critic of the Supreme Leader, will continue to linger in jail. Sazegara's lawyer <b>Shirzad Heydari-Shahbarz</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that another arrest warrant, issued by the special court at the Mehrabad Airport, prevents the release of Sazegara. He adds that the warrant of the Islamic Revolutionary Court is legally the only warrant in force, based on which, Sazegara should have been released after posting the unusually excessive bond. He adds that Tehran prosecutor should transfer Sazegara's case from the airport court to the Tehran Islamic Revolutionary court. Tehran-based lawyer and prominent human rights advocate Shirin Ebadi has agreed to defend Sazegara in the upcoming trial at the Tehran Islamic Revolutionary court. (Leyli Sadr)
<b>Iran-Russia Fail to Agree on Protocol on Returning Spent Atomic Fuel</b>
• Iran and Russian atomic energy delegations meeting in Moscow failed to agree on the details of a protocol that would guarantee the return of spend nuclear fuels from the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant. (Amir Armin)
<b>EU Backs the US on Iran's Nuclear Program</b>
• By adding their voices to that of the US demanding an end to Iran's nuclear program, the EU foreign ministers, meeting informally today at Lake Garda in Italy, will block Iran's ploy to use its relations with the EU to offset the US efforts. Washington has consistently pressured Brussels to back its policy of isolation of Iran. (Ali Sajjadi)
• A team of seventy scientists, employed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards and the defense ministry Iran's nuclear weapons program, the German daily <i>Tagesspeigel</i> reports. (Amir Armin)
<b>Deadlock in Investigation on Zahra Kazemi's Death</b>
• The judiciary did not pay attention to the intelligence ministry's report on the death in custody of Canadian-Iranian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi, vice president for legal and legislative affairs Mohammad-Ali Abtahi said. He said the judiciary and the intelligence ministry could not reach to a compromise. Meanwhile, Tehran MP Jamileh Kadivar said Majles has new information on Kazemi's murder. She rejected Canadian lawyers' charge that Kazemi had been raped in custody, but she said the Majles complaints committee has concluded that she had been tortured. (Amir Armin)
<b>Iranian Wrestling Team Threatened to Cancel US Games on Visas</b>
• Head of the Iranian wrestling federation Mohammad-Reza Taleqani said if the team's coach Mohammad Talai and others do not receive their US visa, Iran will withdraw from the international freestyle championship games to be held in New York on September 12. He said the US consulate in Ankara has issued visas for 17 athletes, but applications for other visas are still pending. (Baktash Khamsehpour)
<b>Iranian Refugees in Belgium Stage Sit-In Strike</b>
• Seventeen Iranian asylum seekers began a sit-in strike in a refugees' house holding 800. They threatened to go on a hunger strike to prevent being deported back to Iran, Brussels-based refugees advocate <b>Bahman Samadi</b> tells <b>Radio Farda</b>. He adds that in the year 2000 alone, more than 10,000 Iranian refugees applied for political asylum in Belgium. (Keyvan Hosseini)
<b>Aghajari Refuses to Attend His Own Re-Trial</b>
• Protesting the court procedures and rules, that force defendants to appear in jail pajamas in front of judges, history professor and Islamic leftist political activist Hashem Aghajari refused for the fifth time to attend his own retrial for insulting Islam. Aghajari, whose death sentence has been turned down by the supreme court, complained to his wife in a phone call from jail about the conditions of his jail. Aghajari went to jail last June after he criticized the clerical rule and the Shiite principle of religious emulation. (Keyvan Hosseini)
• Head of Hamedan judiciary denied the news that said Aghajari's death sentence has been confirmed. (Ali Sajjadi)
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فريبا مودت (راديوفردا): باز هم در محل همين گردهمائي، وزراي امورخارجه اتحاديه اروپا، علاوه بر مسائل خاورميانه، به موضوع برنامه هاي اتمي ايران نيز مي پردازند. بحث هائي كه قبل از برگزاري اجلاس هيات مديره آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي در هفته جاري از اهميت بسياري برخوردار است. شنيديد كه آمريكا در قصد خود براي ارائه پيش نويس قطعنامه اي عليه ايران تجديد نظر كرده است.
كيوان حسيني: خبرگزاري رويتر به نقل از منابع ديپلماتيك گزارش مي دهد كه آمريكا از قصد خود براي ارجاع مورد ايران به شوراي امنيت سازمان ملل منصرف شده است. آمريكا قصد داشت ايران را براي آنچه تخطي اين كشور از مقررات سازمان ملل در زمينه توليد سلاح هاي اتمي تلقي مي كرد، مورد جمهوري اسلامي را در شوراي امنيت مطرح كند.
منابع ديپلماتيك به خبرگزاري رويتر گفتند واشنگتن پيش نويس قطعنامه اي را دراختيار اعضاي هيات مديره آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي گذاشته بود كه در آن ايران به تخطي از مقرراتش در زمينه مسائل اتمي متهم شده بود.
اما بنا به گفته همين منابع واشنتگتن متوجه شد كه قطعنامه مذكور از حمايت چنداني در ميان اعضاي هيات مديره اين آژانس برخوردار نيست زيرا هنوز به طور كامل روشن نيست كه آيا ايران حقيقتا از مفاد پيمان منع گسترش سلاح هاي اتمي تخطي كرده است يانه.
خبرگزاري رويتر مي افزايد اگر قطعنامه مذكور در اجلاس هفته آينده با نظر تائيد آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي روبرو مي شد، در آنصورت هيات مديره آژانس مي بايست مورد ايران را به شوراي امنيت سازمان ملل ارجاع كند كه پيامد آن احتمالا اعمال تحريم هاي اقتصادي عليه ايران مي بود.
حال به گفته يك منبع ديپلماتيك احتمالا واشنگتن در ماه نوامبر و پس از انتشار گزارش آتي آژانس در مورد برنامه هاي آتي ايران در صدد بر خواهد آمد كه اهداف قبلي خود را درمورد جمهوري اسلامي دنبال كند.
رويتر مي افزايد ايالات متحده اكنون از قطعنامه اي حمايت خواهد كرد كه از ايران مي خواهد به فوريت پروتكل الحاقي معاهده منع گسترش سلاح هاي اتمي را بپذيرد و به آژانس بين المللي انرژي هسته اي كمك كند كه بدون اشاره به عبارت تخطي از جزئيات برنامه اتمي ايران اطلاع حاصل كند.
منبع ديپلماتيك ياد شده ضمن اشاره به اينكه اختيارات آژانس بين المللي بايد افزايش يابد مي افزايد: يك قطعنامه شديدالحن عليه از جانب اعضاي هيات مديره آژانس، فشارهاي ديپلماتيك بر ايران را براي افشاي هرگونه برنامه توليد سلاح هسته اي در اين كشور افزاش مي دهد.
يك ديپلمات غربي ديگر به خبرگزاري رويتر گفته است كه احتمال اينكه هيات مديره آژانس بر قطعنامه اي صحه بگذارد كه مورد ايران را به شوراي امنيت ارجاع نكند، بيش از 50 در صد است.
پيشنهادهاي مربوط به اين قطعنامه هنوز تدوين نشده است اما احتمالا اين امر ظرف امروز و فردا عيني پيش از اجلاس هيات مديره آژانس در هفته جاري انجام خواهد شد. آمريكا از قصد خود براي ارجاع مورد ايران به شوراي امنيت سازمان ملل منصرف شد. آمريكا قصد داشت براي آنچه تخطي ايران از مقررات سازمان ملل در زمينه توليد سلاح هاي اتمي تلقي مي كرد، مورد جمهوري اسلامي را در شوراي امنيت مطرح كند. واشنگتن پيش نويس قطعنامه اي را دراختيار اعضاي هيات مديره آژانس بين المللي انرژي اتمي گذاشته بود كه در آن ايران به تخطي از مقرراتش در زمينه مسائل اتمي متهم شده بود. اما بنا به گفته همين منابع واشنتگتن متوجه شد كه قطعنامه مذكور از حمايت چنداني در ميان اعضاي هيات مديره اين آژانس برخوردار نيست زيرا هنوز به طور كامل روشن نيست كه آيا ايران حقيقتا از مفاد پيمان منع گسترش سلاح هاي اتمي تخطي كرده است يانه.
